Moments with marketers: Paul Wilson
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Marketingmag.com.au chats to Paul Wilson – joint marketing coordinator and managing director of Blocks Global and Square Circle Triangle. If you would like to see a certain
marketer profiled, please email your suggestion to Sean Greaney on [email protected].
What do you do?
Chief coffee maker, cleaner, sounding board, problem solver, business developer, business partner, joint marketing coordinator and managing director, in something like that order, for our two companies Square Circle Triangle and Blocks Global. Really it’s a matter of ensuring the work is coming, clients are happy, the business is profitable and prospects are in line with expectations and are able to be funded.
What was your first job?
Busboy at the Chevron Night club. I cleaned up cigarette butts (remember smoke filled clubs?), girls toilets (that was an experience – lots of bits of paper everywhere), carried glasses, stacked fridges and mopped up spew: only once, luckily, before being promoted to god-like status as a barman one night when they were short staffed.
First professional job was as a designer at Harris & Harris design straight from university.
What did you study?
Graphic design at Swinburne School of Design.
Describe a typical day?
Mmmm, depends on the day of the week but it goes something like this.
Corporate traveller – Sydney, (which I have to say I have down to a fine art). Up at 6am, clothes already laid out, 6.15am drive to airport, arrive at 6.47am, into the shuttle and then the lounge for check in by 7am, for a 7.30am flight. I then check email, jump the flight, prepare for meetings, read The Financial Review or The Economist, arrive in Sydney and take the airport train to the city by 9.45am to kick off the day. It is over after the exact reverse trip, replacing The Financial Review with a glass of wine, and finishing at around 8pm.
Working parent – 6.45am(ish) either get up for a mountain bike ride, dog walk or pretend to be asleep for long enough to not have to get up to the kids, which rarely works. As I tend not to see the kids much during waking hours I enjoy a bit of a food fight over breakfast in the morning.
Generally, I try to get to the office by 8.30am, have a coffee (5 Senses from Perth is the preferred mix at present), stand up three times per week when we have a staff huddle to talk about what’s on and how people are tracking for our week, which is Wednesday to Wednesday. We have a weeks review every Wednesday at 4pm, beer and chips in hand. My day, apart from that, is generally a mix of internal, client and new business meetings, with some work from the endless list in Things (my favorite application) in between. Get home ‘round 6.30pm to see the kids, lights out for them at 8.30, then back to my computer to finish up the day ‘round 10.30-11pm.
What is on the agenda for the next year?
On the back of some considerable success with a number of clients in Australia and some exciting new features we are at an exciting junction with Blocks (our hosted marketing platform), with opportunities both here and in the US. We are undergoing some research with the Anderson School of Business at University of California, Los Angeles to help us define opportunities which has also forced us to look at, and clarify our value proposition which is so tough in the content management space.
As a web design and development company Square Circle Triangle is still focused on delivering powerful and accountable web outcomes that capture the value of a brand, and to grow the search engine optimisation, search engine marketing side of the business as well commercialising social media and live search for clients.
So this year is about taking some of our own advice and telling people about what we do (which we have been very poor at), having some fun and capitalising on some open doors.
What brand do you love the most? Dislike the most? Why?
Love – Don’t say Apple, don’t say Apple…APPLE, damn!
Cause I’m surrounded by it, it looks real pretty in the shop and on my desk, the ads make me laugh and it works, most of the time!
Dislike – Well if we are talking visually there is one large Australian public company I think has the worst branding solution I have ever seen for a company regardless of size, but we are also pitching our services to them, so it may be in poor judgement for me to name it.
What do you believe has been the most significant moment in the history of marketing?
Wow nothing like a ‘small’ question huh!
I think it would have to be branding becoming more than a the 2D visual representation of a company on corporate livery to capture the physical and emotional embodiment of what a brand represents. Or, in other words, a true brand experience.
This development is evident in almost every market segment, from car yards to banks. It endeavors to give the consumer a compete brand experience and creates lots more work for architects, interior designers, social media experts and consultants.
Where can people find you?
